by Jason Cheek
“You really think either one of you ladies looks any better?” she shot back as they all laughed tiredly at one another.
“I don’t think Zhou and I wear it quite as well as you,” Ryane said with a grin as she wiped some unidentifiable gore from her cheek.
“Was that a compliment?” Phoenix asked in confusion as Zhou spoke up.
“More or less.” Changing the subject, she nodded to the troopers hammering at the Dread Pack players. “These Nightmare start players suck to take down.”
“You’ll telling me,” Phoenix said, while shaking her red hair out of her eyes. “Makes me wish I’d done a Nightmare start myself.”
“Not me,” Zhou said seriously. “You haven’t seen what the game keeps throwing at Star. I don’t know if I could handle that day in and day out. At some point in time, I’d want to just play in peace.”
“Are we doing this?” Ryane asked, pushing the conversation back on track.
“Yeah, we got to take these guys out so we can get ready for the real battle.” Phoenix said grimly as both women groaned at the thought. Swinging her battle axe to her shoulder, she took off at a run as both women faded into Stealth behind her. Moving into a fast sprint, Phoenix leaped into the air with her two-handed battle axe leading the way as she smashed into the Dread Pack player that had just gotten his shield back up.
Fiery sparks flew as the Flame Shield harmlessly dissipated the damage. With an ugly grin, the douchebag raised his hands to fry her face off, when Zhou and Ryane appeared behind his back triggering their Sneak Attacks. Immediately, the man’s shield collapsed in a fiery explosion as he shrieked in agony from the intense pain. Without slowing down, Phoenix spun around to hammer her axe blade deep into the Dread Pack player’s neck as she wordlessly howled in the spray of warm blood.
***
The battle had wiped out the majority of their NPC forces. Thomas would be surprised if any of the Royal Navy troopers had survived the fight. The constant respawns from the Dread Pack players had taken their toll on the lightly armored troopers. At the same time, the only reason they hadn’t been completely overrun was because of those same soldiers’ sacrifice. Hopefully, Star could resurrect those brave men once the battle was over. With a heavy sigh, he made his way through the pile of dead to where Thompson was working.
“No rest for the weary,” Thomas said, pulling a semi-BBQ’D Sir Hemmet to his feet as Thompson turned to the next wounded in line. Giving the senior Knight a quick once over, he shook his head. “You look like shit.” Instead of taking offense, Sir Hemmet gave the Devil Dog Guild Leader a brotherly clap on back.
“Please accept my apology,” the senior knight said gruffly. “I was wrong to ignore yours and Star’s warnings about these Nightmare newfar. Never before have I seen any creature endure so much destruction.”
“Yeah, these guys were no joke. Now that all of the gravestones have turned white, we at least won’t be having any more respawns trying to sneak attack us,” Thomas said, running a tired hand through his singed hair.“ Thanks to Star’s planning, we have the graveyards under our control, or they’d just be right back.”
“By the dark, I completely forgot about that,” Sir Hemmet exclaimed, his eyes widening as he pictured just exactly what that would’ve meant to the battle. “How can any small force hope to hold the graveyards against an enemy such as this?”
“When they stop spawning at the gravestone where they last fell, they have the choice to respawn at the nearest graveyard at ten percent Hit Points and Mana.” Thomas said, his voice automatically switching into instructor mode. “If you can slaughter them at the moment of their rebirth…”
“… then you have a slim chance of easily taking out an intractable enemy before they’ve had a chance to recover,” Sir Hemmet finished, cutting Thomas off. You could see the maelstrom of tumultuous thoughts rolling behind his eyes. The Guardian Knight suddenly stiffened and offered a bow to someone behind the Devil Dog’s back. Turning around, Thomas saw an exhausted Princess Reeva come to a stop before them.
“By the dark, I hope that’s the last of those nasty newfar.” Catching herself, she blushed slightly meeting Thomas’ eyes. “No offensive intended, commander.”
“None taken,” Thomas said. A grin unconsciously split his lips as he gave her a wink. “I couldn’t agree with you more.”
“So did we win? Did the other groups take out their targets?” Princess Reeva asked, completely unaware of what they truly faced. Not offering up an immediate answer, Thomas’ eyes got a faraway look as he scanned the arena and the fortress at the top of the hill, while both the knight and princess traded uneasy glances with one another.
“Fuck a duck,” Thomas angrily growled as he saw the remaining enemy’s members forming up near the entrance to the fortress. Already, the new raid was nearly two times the size of the force they’d just taken on, with more newfar arriving by the minute. ‘How much you want to bet that’s the rest of their entire guild?’ Thomas thought sourly. If that wasn’t bad enough, he saw three groups of twenty-five players take off heading in different directions. As both Sir Hemmet and Princess Reeva followed his gaze, he hurriedly switched to the raid’s command channel. “Yo, Star! We’ve got a problem.”
“You’re telling me,” Star replied back. “What’s your status?”
Quickly, Thomas brought him up to speed. First reporting that they’d all taken out the various raids headed down the hill, the tactic that they’d used to ambush the Dread Pack with and their current situation. He described the current troop counts that he was seeing and the separate groups that had been sent off to secure the graveyards. Instead of giving him an immediate answer, he heard Star start swearing up a storm.
“Give me a moment,” Star said, before he dropped out of the command channel. Thomas racked his mind trying to come up with some sort of a plan as he nervously waited for Startum to come back into the channel. All the while, the Dread Pack’s raid got bigger and bigger as he sent a message to Thompson to hurry it up as much as he could with getting everyone healed up. He was just starting to get really nervous when Assault Leader Dell, Sarka, Phoenix, Sir Hemmet, Princess Reeva, Sub Commander Herneiros, Sub Commander Hawkin, Sub Commander Caskstone and Sub Captain Windcoat popped into the channel a moment before Star returned.
“Okay everyone, there’s been a slight change of plans.” Star said, as his voice filled with confidence while he began issuing orders. “Sub Captain Windcoat, if you don’t have any complaints. I’d like to reassign your reserve units.”
“So far it’s been quiet here and even if you take the reserve units, we still have the ex-Royal Navy, Beastkin and Gnomeling forces for defense.” Sub Captain Windcoat replied back without hesitation.
“Excellent, has everyone been keeping up with the updates on the enemies’ Flame Shield and the best tactics on taking it down.” Getting a quick affirmative from everyone, he spoke quickly. “Sub Commanders Herneiros and Hawkins, you’ll head to the eastern graveyard to reinforce the troops that are under attack. Once you’ve taken out the group of twenty-five newfar that were sent to take control over the graveyard, you’ll push out to the graveyard near the main gate. Sub Commander Caskstone, you and your men will reinforce the western graveyard. All clear? Good, go ahead and head out now!” As the three Sub Commanders and Sub Captain Windcoat disappeared from the command channel, Star’s voice turned grave.
“First off, Thomas gave me an update about your individual battles. Seriously everyone, good job on taking those assholes out. I love the whole thinking outside of the box strategy you’ve been using.” Waiting a moment for the cheers to die down, he continued gravely. “Unfortunately, the shit’s about to get real. I figure you have a raid of nearly four hundred players headed your way.” The instant swearing and loud gasps from everyone said it all.
“There’s no way we’re going to be able to take on a group that large,” Sir Hemmet sputtered into the command channel as he was seconded by the princess. Thoma
s wished he could argue with the senior knight, but honestly, that was his take on the issue too. They were up shit creek without a paddle. As the cursing and bitching quieted down, Star’s confident voice sounded in everyone’s ears.
“I’ve got a plan that I think just might work. Has anyone started raising zombies back up?” Getting a few choruses of negatives, he got down to business. “First off, I want everyone to use the players’ corpses to replace their zombies. Then-“
“Players as zombies?” Both Phoenix and Sarka asked in unison, cutting Star off in their surprise.
“Trust me, it’s all part of the plan. Besides, except for the Orc zombies’ elemental magic resistance, you couldn’t ask for a better corpse since they keep all the players’ nightmare stats.” Silence followed Star’s statement as he hurriedly continued. “Here’s what we’re going to do.” As Star laid out the plan he’d obviously come up with on the fly, Thomas slowly began to feel hopeful that they might actually have a chance at pulling this off as a savage grin lit up his face. That twist to his previous idea just might work like a charm, he thought excitedly.
“Thomas, where do you want everyone to meet up with you?” Star said, coming to the end of his spiel.
“I should have my people moving out in five minutes, so let’s meet in front of the arena in roughly eight minutes. Does that work for everyone?” Thomas asked as he pictured the distance they had to cover. Hopefully he could get his people moving in less than five minutes. Hearing Sarka and Phoenix agree that eight minutes worked for them, Star ended the virtual raid conference.
“Alrighty then, everyone knows what to do. Let’s get moving!” Star said, before he left the command channel as the rest of them dropped to their various local raid chats. As Thomas’ eyes refocused on the people around him, he saw Assault Leader Dell making his way towards him.
“Commander,” the professional swordsman simply said as he came to a stop.
“Go ahead and get the men moving on raising newfar zombies and make sure they loot what they can. We need to deny these assholes as much of their gear as we can. I want to be on the move in four minutes if possible.”
“What should we do with the townspeople we rescued?” Dell asked in a low voice as Thomas covered his eyes thinking quickly, when the answer hit him a moment later. “Who’s the Team Leader collecting all the corpses?”
“Swordsman Haakon Harper,” the Assault Leader replied without hesitation.
“Have his men split up and help each of our groups. Let’s get everyone down to the docks.”
“And the corpses?” Dell asked, trying to balance out his orders between his liege lord and his current commander.
“The living is more important than the dead, Startum would agree with that any day,” Thomas said resting a reassuring hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Let’s save those that we can. Once Team Leader Harper is finished, he can go back to collecting the dead. It’s not like they’ll be running off anywhere?”
“There is that,” Assault Leader Dell replied in agreement as he gave a fist salute and left to carry out Thomas’ orders.
The Devil Dogs and the troopers supporting them hurriedly got to work. Within two minutes there was a new wave of zombie pets raised up and awaiting orders. Thompson and Sara were the only ones that were taking longer, since they had the most zombie pets outside of Star to raise. Seeing the powerful zombie force being created in just minutes, Sir Hemmet came over to Thomas.
“Is there any way we can be taught Dark Magic to raise our own zombie force too?” the senior knight asked somewhat awkwardly.
“Didn’t Lord Ironwolf teach you on the ships on the way over?” Thomas asked playing dumb. He knew exactly why none of the Royal Knights had their own zombies. The lot of them were a bunch of thick-headed, stiff-necked nobles.
“At the time, we decided to not accept his gift,” Sir Hemmet said carefully. “But now we see the value of what he was offering to us.”
“I guess you should have listened to your liege lord the first time he offered you his gift,” Thomas said, nearly growling at the other man. “Your refusal to learn as a group has weakened our ability to drive out these newfar and save the people of Darom greatly.” The Guardian Knight shifted uncomfortably at Thomas’ hard words as the Devil Dog unrelentingly continued.
“How would you have reacted if one of your vassals refused your orders and then actively worked against you to undermine your authority?” Thomas held his hand up stopping any answer from the other man. “We both know what would have happened if the shoe was on the other foot.”
“I can’t share out the ability, only Lord Ironwolf can do that. But, I imagine you will need to prove your loyalty before he entrusts you with such power.” Thomas ended his spiel harshly. Seeing Assault Leader Dell signaling that everyone was ready to move out, he met the senior knight’s black eyes. “Now gather up your command. We’re moving out.”
Kenzie’s stealth group shot out into the lead as Thomas followed at a fast jog with Assault Leader Dell and his Devil Dogs at his side. Sir Hemmet and Princess Reeva kept a few paces behind them speaking quietly to one another. Thomas’ eyes swept over the corpses that littered the streets as he ran. So much senseless death and suffering. How much of the town was simply slaughtered for fun, he wondered? After sitting down and drinking with Star’s people, he couldn’t look at them now other than simply people from another world.
He could feel the old outrage coming back. The terrible anger he’d had for the Taliban’s murderous rampages. The corpses like this that were left where they’d fallen in the middle of a street brought back memories of the small enclaves and towns that he’d run across during his patrols in Kandahar. The impoverished war strewn land that didn’t have running water or food in most places. Is this the world that these players wanted to recreate here? Or, were they just so blinded by playing raiders that they never considered how their actions would affect the world around them?
Thomas hadn’t been able to stop the atrocities then. But here, it was different. Here, they had the chance of Resurrecting those that had been cut down and giving them a second chance at a better life. Not just that, he now had the power to stand up for what he believed in and make a difference. With what Star was building, he and the rest of the Devil Dogs could make a world that he wanted to be a part of and that needed people like him willing to fight to make a difference. Scanning his friends around him, he saw the same determination reflected in their eyes.
The Dread Pack raid had just started moving down into the city by the time they reached the open square around the arena. Quickly his eyes found both Sarka’s and Phoenix’s group already waiting on them to arrive. Getting an acknowledgement from both leaders, Thomas waved them forward as he headed for the wide entrance that led into the massive structure. Their job was to ensure there were no newfar on the outside of the structure, while his was to rescue the townsfolk inside and take out all the Dread Pack that he could. As soon as they entered the arena’s massive arches, Kenzie stepped out of stealth to give her report.
“This is going to be ugly.” The sexy rogue began as she came to a stop while tying her hair up into a ponytail. “There’s only twenty-five players, but they’re spread out keeping an eye on everyone.”
“So, if we’re going to pull this off, we’ll need everyone’s help if we want to take them down silently,” Thomas said thoughtfully. “Well hit them with everything we’ve got. Hopefully, that’ll stop anyone from trying to respawn at their gravestone, but, if their stupid enough to try coming back for seconds, then we can take a page out of Star’s book if needed and have the zombies lug the gravestones with us.” Seeing Kenzie’s nod of agreement, he jerked his chin towards the massive arena that seemed to be full of people hard at work. “How bad is it?”
“Bad,” Kenzie said, as her voice took on a hard edge that Thomas hadn’t heard since their time in Afghanistan. A cold shiver ran down his spine at the haunted look in her green eyes. “Remember o
ur TAD in Poland? The one where when we visited the death camp?”
“You mean Auschwitz?” Thomas asked, unable to hold back the unbelieving snort at how Kenzie forgot names and places at times. He remembered that ‘temporary additional duty’ assignment clearly.
“Yeah, that place.” Kenzie said, serious as a heart attack. “The Dread Pack is holding the townspeople in cages. Men, women, and children … they’re all chained to benches being forced to craft for the guild,” her face turned splotchy from her anger as she snarled to Thomas, “and they’re starving them to death! All of their Hit Points are hovering in the red.”
“And that’s not all,” she continued, her eyes burning in anger from what she’d witnessed. “There are hundreds … maybe thousands of bodies piled at the far end of the arena.” Kenzie’s eyes took on a wild look as she paced back and forth, unable to stand still as she began talking with her hands flying about as she spoke. “The bodies are all Royal Army soldiers, guardsmen, hunters, and even adventurers.” She came to a sudden stop, gripping him by the shoulders and look into his eyes. “I think they’ve been simply slaughtering them to level up their guildmates!”
For a long second, neither one of them said a word as Thomas tried to process what she was saying. Did the Dread Pack simply take over the town so they could get their hands on crafting slaves and to slaughter all of the combat classes to power level their entire guild? The cold blooded calculating fucktards! Thomas mentally raged as his breathing came in ragged gasps. They’d slaughtered all of the Force protecting the town just because they wanted a quick and easy way to power level their people?
The callous brutality of it all blew his mind. He tried to get a handle on the outrage threatening to overwhelm him, but it was impossible as he felt his skin break out in a cold sweat. There was something so innately wrong with the whole thing that it gouged Thomas to the core. Slaughtering the men and woman that had been putting their lives on the line fighting the monsters of this world just so that a few punks could conveniently power level … he couldn’t even put his outrage into words as he struggled to breathe.